Application of nanoparticle tracking analysis for characterising the fate of engineered nanoparticles in sediment-water systems

Novel applications of nanotechnology may lead to the release of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs), which result in concerns over their potential environmental hazardous impact. It is essential for the research workers to be able to quantitatively characterise ENPs in the environment and subsequently to assist the risk assessment of the ENPs. This study hence explored the application of nanoparticle tracking system (NTA) to quantitatively describe the behaviour of the ENPs in natural sediment-water systems. The NTA allows the measurement of both particle number concentration (PNC) and particle size distribution (PSD) of the ENPs. The developed NTA method was applied to a range of gold and magnetite ENPs with a selection of surface properties. The results showed that the positively-charged ENPs interacted more strongly with the sediment than neutral and negatively-charged ENPs. It was also found that the citrate coated Au ENPs had a higher distribution percentage (53%) than 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid coated Au ENPs (20%) and citrate coated magnetite ENPs (21%). The principles of the electrostatic interactions between hard (and soft) acids and bases (HSAB) are used to explain such behaviours; the hard base coating (i.e. citrate ions) will interact more strongly with hard acid (i.e. magnetite) than soft acid (i.e. gold). The results indicate that NTA is a complementary method to existing approaches to characterise the fate and behaviour of ENPs in natural sediment.     

兰州主城区大气颗粒物质量浓度及健康风险

分别在2013年春季3月23日~3月29日和冬季12月15日~12月21日对兰州市主城区5个采样点进行采样,每天每个采样点采集8个样品,共采集有效样品560个.通过实验室分析和重金属健康风险评价,结果显示：兰州市主城区≤ 10μm颗粒物中,主要分布在5.8~10.0μm （春、冬季）、1.1~3.3μm （春季）和0.65~3.3μm （冬季）范围内,Pb在PM_3.3~4.7（一级支气管）中的质量浓度最大,分别为0.2352ug/m³（春季）和0.2177ug/m³（冬季）,Cd作为一种致癌重金属在PM_9.0~5.8、PM_4.7~1.1均被检出.儿童、成年男性、成年女性的非致癌风险值HZ在春季和冬季分别为0.842、0.360、0.345和0.842、0.326、0.361,低于1不存在非致癌的风险,致癌风险值RIS在10^-6~10^-4的范围内,不存在致癌风险,但儿童RIS值较高,对儿童的健康状况的影响,应受到社会群体的重视.     

粒径和温度对玉米秸秆生物碳吸附锶的耦合影响

以玉米秸秆为原材料,在350℃下采用限氧裂解法制备了4种粒径的生物碳(BC-9.31、BC-20.26、BC-71.07、BC-101.90,数字代表样品的中值径,单位μm),对比研究了15℃、25℃、35℃、45℃下生物碳对锶的吸附行为,旨在阐明生物碳粒径和溶液温度对生物碳吸附锶的耦合影响。结果表明:生物碳粒径和溶液温度对等温吸附曲线的基本特征影响较小,Freundlich模型能较好地拟合吸附过程(R2=0.915~0.997,N=0.513~0.745);生物碳吸附锶是以熵驱动为主的物理吸附过程,熵变ΔS为75.66~99.43 J/(mol·K),焓变ΔH为18.18~25.84 k J/mol;生物碳对锶的吸附性能大体与溶液温度呈正相关,与颗粒粒径呈负相关,同时颗粒粒径与溶液温度存在耦合影响;生物碳粒径越小,锶吸附过程受温度影响越小;温度越高,锶吸附受粒径影响越小。     

Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model animal for assessing the toxicity induced by microcystin-LR

Among more than 75 variants of microcystin(MC),microcystin-LR(MC-LR) is one of the most common toxins.In this study,the feasibility of using Caenorhabditis elegans to evaluate MC-LR toxicity was studied.C.elegans was treated with MC-LR at different concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 80 μg/L.The results showed that MC-LR could reduce lifespan,delay development,lengthen generation time,decrease brood size,suppress locomotion behavior,and decreases hsp-16-2-gfp expression.The endpoints of generation time,brood...     

汽油车非常规污染物排放特性研究

选择3种不同排量的典型汽油车,基于国Ⅲ标准的轻型车排放测试循环,用SKC采样泵和2, 4-DNPH、Tenax TA采样管采集尾气中的非常规污染物,利用高效液相色谱仪和热脱附气相色谱质谱联用仪分析汽油车排放中醛酮类化合物和挥发性有机物的组成及含量,同时利用电子低压冲击仪研究了其颗粒物排放的粒径和质量浓度分布特征.结果表明,不同汽油车之间非常规污染物的比排放值有较大差异,3辆汽油车总醛酮比排放量分别为36.44、 16.71、 10.43 mg/km,TVOC分别为155.39、 103.75、 42.29 mg/km.排放的醛酮化合物中甲醛、乙醛、丙烯醛、丙酮和环己酮的检出含量较高,占总醛酮量的77.9%～89.7%,且绝大部分为有毒有害物质;废气中挥发性有机物绝大部分为芳香烃和烷烃,分别占总数的31.6%～39.2%和23.1%～27.9%,其中又以芳香烃类化合物甲苯、二甲苯和苯的检出含量最高,平均占TVOC的16.68%、 16.87%和5.23%;其颗粒物排放以超细颗粒物（<100nm）为主,高速工况下排放的颗粒物明显多于低速和中速工况.     

基质种类对活性污泥絮体性状的影响

利用葡萄糖、淀粉、乙酸钠和苯酚4种典型基质,分别在4个相同的序批式反应器(Sequencing Batch Reactor,SBR)中培养活性污泥,并研究了基质种类对活性污泥絮体性状的影响.结果表明,以葡萄糖为底物培养的活性污泥胞外多糖含量最少,而苯酚所培养的活性污泥胞外蛋白质最多;从形成的EPS总量来看,苯酚最多,乙酸钠次之,葡萄糖和淀粉较少.不同基质培养的污泥Zeta电位也有一定差别,这是由EPS中多糖和蛋白质的比例不同造成的.红外分析表明,4种基质培养的污泥EPS中的主要基团较为相似,羧基、醇羟基、羧酸、酰胺和多聚糖均是EPS中的主要基团.此外,进水基质对活性污泥絮体的粒度分布及分形结构也有重要影响.     

三环唑粉尘爆炸特性研究

利用激光粒度仪对三环唑粉尘的粒径分布进行分析,并用20 L爆炸球测试装置、哈特曼管装置探讨了粉尘质量浓度、点火延迟时间、点火能量、粒径分布对粉尘爆炸的影响并总结了相关规律。实验结果表明:粉尘粒度是影响粉尘最小点火能和爆炸下限的单调因素,粉尘质量浓度是影响粉尘爆炸压力的极值因素,点火延迟时间是影响粉尘最小点火能的极值因素。     

Allometric scaling and accidents at work

Allometry is the knowledge concerning relations between the features of some beings, like animals, or cities. For example, the daily energy rate is proportional to a mass of mammals rise of 3/4. This way of thinking has spread quickly from biology to many areas of research concerned with sociotechnical systems. It was revealed that the number of innovations, patents or heavy crimes rises as social interaction increases in a bigger city, while other urban indexes such as suicides decrease with social interaction. Enterprise is also a sociotechnical system, where social interaction and accidents at work take place. Therefore, do these interactions increase the number of accidents at work or, on the contrary, are they reduction-driving components? This article tries to catch such links and assess the allometric exponent between the number of accidents at work and the number of employees in an enterprise.     

Unraveling the impact of workforce age diversity on labor productivity: The moderating role of firm size and job security

Previous literature has suggested both positive and negative effects of age diversity on labor productivity: positive because of the potential knowledge complementarities between employees of different ages and negative because of the age‐related value differences that might reduce cohesion and cooperation, hampering firm performance. Using a Belgian sample of 5892 organizational observations (2008–2011), we unraveled these countervailing effects in two ways. First, we built on prior studies to suggest that the effect of age diversity depends on the particular shape of the age distribution: positive when it is heterogeneous (i.e., variety) and negative when it is polarized (i.e., polarization). This was supported by our findings. Second, we explored the moderating impact of two contextual contingencies, firm size and job security. As expected, the positive effect of age variety is reinforced in large firms and in firms where job security is high. Although firm size also emphasizes the negative effect of age polarization on productivity, job security, unexpectedly, does not moderate this relationship. Our study offers a valuable contribution to the literature as it reveals the boundary conditions of the competing implications of age diversity and, thus, allows one to account for the inconclusive findings reported in previous literature. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

金华市义乌江沉积物磁性特征与重金属污染

对浙江省金华市义乌江采集的边滩沉积物柱样,进行了系统的环境磁学、粒度、地球化学分析,以探讨环境磁学方法诊断河流沉积物重金属污染的可行性.结果表明,柱样磁性特征由亚铁磁性矿物主导,其垂向变化受到粒度和早期成岩作用的一定影响.柱样中重金属Cr、Ni、Cu、Zn、Cd、Pb含量及其富集因子除底部外,自下而上呈增加趋势,指示了柱样上部存在人为来源的重金属污染.柱样沉积物磁性特征与重金属含量及其富集因子的垂向变化存在相似性,其中磁化率(χ)、频率磁化率(χfd%)和硬剩磁(HIRM)与Cr、Cu、Zn、Cd、Pb的含量具有显著的正相关关系,反映了磁性矿物与重金属具有相同的来源,或者细颗粒磁性矿物对重金属的吸附作用.上述结果表明,磁学方法可用于指示义乌江的重金属污染.但由于义乌江属于开放性的河流环境系统,磁性特征变化受多重因素影响,增加了利用磁学手段定量诊断重金属污染的复杂性.